All Blog Posts (4,172)

As many of you know, we here in the Cincinnati area experienced the loss of two of our own. Channel 9 here has initiated a Appreciation Day for firefighters on April 17th. Let's not let this be an isolated event. I believe this could be a time to, not only express appreciation to those who serve, to to expand awareness of firefighter safety. Get your community involved! If you do something for April 17th, please post it here to let everyone know of ways to become active in their community. Here… Continue

Dates: April 25, 2008 (1pm-5pm EST) and May 2 (1pm-5pm EST) This seminar is divided into two sessions.

Bombings,
attempted bombings and bomb threats can cause extreme disruption, fear,
and even panic in organizations whose personnel are not trained to
handle such situations. Inappropriate and costly management decisions
are often made due to a lack of organizational planning and a
methodology for…Continue

We all got'em. Some well deserved, some we would rather forget. Firehouse nicknames. On my crew I have a "Booge," "Lukie," "Greenie," "Wrong Way," and a "Fragile Bob." I have been called "Da Wop" "Henchman" and my favorite is the "Spaghetti Yeti." What are some of the ones around your fire house?

This morning two firefighters were killed in a working house fire in Colerain Twp. Ohio. That is north of Cincinnati. The two entered with one other firefighter and the floor collapsed. One firefighter exited. Two fell into the basement. The occupant was out upon arrival. I am sure more news will be coming on this fire. I can not, nor will I comment on…

We are now beginning to take enrollment for Daniel Sharon's Seminar on Bomb Threat Planning and Management (8 hour class). I wanted to give you advanced notice to notify your departments and people you believe would benefit from the class. The course description is as follows:

About the Class...Bombings, attempted bombings and bomb threats can cause extreme disruption, fear, and even panic in organizations whose personnel are not trained to handle such situations.… Continue

I wish to thank the members of The Start Water Group for their fanatstic responses and questions. We curently have over a dozen topics to respond to. We have been able to strike a balance between real world concerns and academy training, appealing to both line firefighters and instructors. That balance I believe is exactly what this site should be about. All of the topics in the Start Water Group are relevant and timely. Please keep the responses comming. Remember we all do the same…

I will not be at the April meeting due to attending FDIC...I would guess that Mark will 'designate' someone to take notes in my place--thanks in advance to the person who does this. Also, I was accepted to the Book Committee for the State, our first meeting is April 15th, I will keep the district posted. As always, if you have any questions,…

In my tenure as a firefighter I have responded to numerous hazmat calls. Most (90%) we handled at the operations level. Only a few needed "tech" level interventions. With that said, continued education and training to maintain the skills learned have been important for me. Yesterday I attended an 8 hour class with several other departments, including DHS hazmat teams. The class was hosted by the Dupont Chemical company. The company has an old Anhydrous Amonia car converted to a training prop… Continue

What is it that we love about the job? What are the little things? For me it has to be the sound of firehose flaking off the rear of the rig as your laying a line into a good job. Even inside the cab of the truck you can still hear the "zip-clunk" as section after section of hose feeds off into the street. Or maybe it is the time at shift change when we all are gathered around the kitchen table. There is plenty of coffee and lots of laughter. Or maybe it is the smell of the apparatus bay. The… Continue

In response to the troubling prevailing trend of declining volunteerism in the Fire Service...oh the hell with that...let's call it what it is, we're in trouble folks....the numbers are bad, the kids aren't signing up and the current membership is aging at a rate that almost guarantees the death knell for Volunteer Fire Departments.

What to do? I've created and have almost completed writing a program that my organization (The Firemen's Association of the State of New York...aka FASNY)…

There are still some fire service myths floating around out there I see. Firefighters operating under unsafe SOP's or none at all. Hard to believe. Staffing is always an issue. Having one firefighter per truck is not staffing it's a driver. Chiefs need to worry more about the fire floor than the apparataus floor.There are all levels of instruction and instructors out there. Get the reasons why we do something from the instructor not just the teaching points.

I believe that the day I stop learning is the day to quit this job. I'm looking for anyway to increase my knowledge in all subjects pertaining to the fire service. If you have any ideas please let me know.

I have been fortunate to be associated with so many great firefighters in my fire service career and it seems only natural that this site would further enhance that experience. In a recent blog post, I asked for information on response safety for a report I am working on for the Indiana SAFE Fire Service Initiative [This initiative is modeled after the 16 Life Safety…

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